I used NetMD for a while, but switching to an MP3 player was an upgrade in almost every way: hardware size, capacity, file format support, user interface, convenience, reliability, etc.

Just being able to drag and drop files to my player, rather than recording in real time, or using Sony's utterly dire software, made a huge difference.

The hassle of actually getting music onto the player was made worse by the poor reliability of the fragile MD media. For me a minidisc's average life expectancy was at most a month or two of normal use. Dust would get inside and they'd start skipping, or the sliding cover would become warped and jam in the player. That happened even if I didn't drop the damn things trying to change the disc while on the move.

They were a dead end technology, especially for portable use. I'm glad to see the back of them.